EPISODE Archives - Page 2 of 13

A Christmas Ghost Story VI

By boneandsickle | December 23, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:33 — 44.1MB)

Tonight we bring you our sixth annual Christmas ghost story, a tradition particularly beloved in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. First published in 1908, and set in the days before Christmas, the tale is by British writer Algernon Blackwood (from whom we earlier heard “Ancient Lights“) and whom many listeners will know through his other works, particularly, The Wendigo or The Willows. Throw a log on the fire, refill the brandy, and settle back for Mrs. Karswell’s reading of “The Kit Bag.”

Christmas Superstitions

By boneandsickle | December 15, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:40 — 29.4MB)

The Christmas season is rich in superstitions. The whole period from the beginning of Advent, through the day itself, and especially throughout the twelve days (and nights!) between Christmas and January 6 or Epiphany are, in a sense haunted, a time when spirits are afoot and behavior is hemmed in by restrictions upon normal activities. Recently I stumbled upon a good collection of these folk beliefs in a volume from 1903 entitled Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World: (And subtitled, A Comprehensive Library of Human Belief and Practice in the Mysteries of Life). The book’s contents are indeed as comprehensive as that title, and from their section on Christmas, I’ll be sharing some of the more interesting examples.

The show closes with a recording of a song sung by costumed Swiss holiday figures known as Silvesterchläuse. In the hinterlands of the Canton of Appenzell-Ausserrhoden, the se Silvesterchläus, groups of men and male youths wearing huge bells and ornate costumes, go door to door to offer seasonal blessings and sing songs like the one you will hear.

The Monster of Glamis

By boneandsickle | November 20, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:10 — 50.5MB)

The Monster of Glamis was a Victorian legend involving a Scottish castle, a secret chamber, and a monstrous aristocrat hidden from the world–a perfect story for Bone and Sickle’s return to its old format, a 45-minute deep-dive into the castle’s lore, including its association with Macbeth, a legend of a cursed Earl’s card game with the Devil, as well as theories regarding the extravagant measures employed to keep the castle’s terrible secret. Along the way, we learn a bit about other secret chambers in castles and estates of Britain, a scandal involving the Royal Family, and a connection between the Glamis legend and a popular literary trope of the day, one embraced in Gothic fiction and later in the pulps and horror films. We even hear Lon Chaney, Jr. sing!

An Old-Fashioned Halloween Party

By boneandsickle | October 28, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:00 — 46.9MB)

Tonight we recreate for you elements of an old-fashioned Halloween party as experienced in the 1920s or ’30s. Foods, games, spooky stories and poems in an extra-long Halloween episode.

For more retro delights of the era, listen to Episode 35 “Vintage Halloween.”

The Spook House

By boneandsickle | October 1, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:03 — 22.9MB)

“The Spook House,” an 1899 short story by Ambrose Bierce is suitably spooky for the season, but not in the way you expect.It was a favorite of H. P. Lovecraft, who praised its “terrible hints of a shocking mystery.” Also, a macabre bit of poetic whimsy from A.E. Houseman, and an intruder is welcomed in Mr. Ridenour’s library.

Ghouls

By boneandsickle | September 18, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:27 — 32.6MB)

The lore of graveyard-haunting ghouls is unexpectedly best explained in a seminal work on the subject of werewolves. We hear in this episode from the 1865 volume, The Book of Were-Wolves, by Sabine Baring-Gould, an Anglican priest known for his voluminous writings on folklore, local curiosities, and church history. While our episode is called “Ghouls,” and ghouls are indeed what the author had in mind, Baring-Gould named this chapter “The Human Hyæna.” probably to better harmonize with the book’s theme of human-animal transformations.

Engraving showing François Bertrand, the “Vampire of Montparnasse,” from “Mémoires de M. Claude, chef de la police de sûreté sous le second Empire Paris,” Jules Rouff, 1880

Six Witches

By boneandsickle | August 30, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:29 — 32.6MB)

Six historical witchcraft cases as related in the 1880 volume by James Grant, The Mysteries of All Nations, Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together with Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales.

Mr. Ridenour and Mrs. Karswell also share listener comments on the Halloween season as well as a remix of a seasonal viral video.

A House Struck by Lightning and Other Curiosities

By boneandsickle | August 18, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:24 — 27.9MB)

Marvel and cringe at this collection of curious cases presented from a favorite Victorian volume. Tonight’s episode includes a bit of proto-Forteana, namely the anomolies left in the wake of a particular lightning strike that fell on a small town in Hertfordshire in 1777. We also have brief look at the wicked deeds of those popes the Catholic Church would rather forget about, and we close with two gruesome gustatory cases, one macabre and the other simply bizarre.

A Viking Funeral

By boneandsickle | August 1, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:33 — 21.2MB)

Scenes of fiery Viking funerals have been woven into any number of literary and cinematic tales, but sources on the topic are limited. In this episode, we hear from what’s probably the definitive source, a firsthand account written in the 10th-century by an Arab traveler and diplomat, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who was visiting what would be modern Ukraine, an area then populated by Germanic tribes originating in Sweden. Fadlan’s unflinching description of the bloody and brutal rites, it should be noted, may not be an easy listen for younger or more sensitive members of our audience.

“Ancient Lights” by Algernon Blackwood

By boneandsickle | July 13, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:04 — 25.3MB)

Why not enjoy a reading of Algernon Blackwood’s “Ancient Lights” before wandering off into those summery woods — a classic work of Weird Fiction read and dramatized with sound and music from your imaginary friends at Bone and Sickle.